Vernor Vinge (b. 1944) is an American science fiction writer, computer scientist and mathematician. He has written two Hugo award-winning novels (A Fire Upon the DeepA Deepness in the Sky) among a number of other well-liked works. His essay on the technological Singularity is also well-known; in it, he argues that exponential growth in technology will lead to a future that we cannot imagine. Vinge retired from teaching in 2002 to write full-time.